The present invention relates generally to high temperature incineration systems and is more particularly concerned with a new and improved rotary incineration system utilizing the flow of hot gases to dry unincinerated waste material.
Incineration systems have been efficiently utilized heretofore for the disposal of waste materials such as garbage and the like. In recent years, however, new chemicals and materials have been developed which are extremely durable, some of which may also be toxic, and if not properly processed, may present potential health and environmental hazards. Conventional incineration systems are not able to effectively incinerate these materials and other waste materials which contain moisture.
State of the art incineration systems include rotary kilns employing a waste tumbling principle. In these systems, a rotary kiln or cumbustion chamber of generally cylindrical configuration has one end which contains suitable apparatus for both feeding the waste material and igniting the waste material. This design dictates that the hot flue gases generated from the burning waste materials flow in a direction away from the waste material inlet, concurrently with the burning mass, towards the opposite end of the chamber. Such an incineration system configuration is shown in United States Pat. No. 3,861,335 issued to the applicant of this application.
Other previous efforts have been directed to the efficient disposal of waste materials, such as United States Pat. No. 3,357,382 to S. Matteini entitled "Solid Trash Drying and Incinerating Furnace". The U.S. Pat. No. 3,357,382 is illustrative of multiple rotary chamber incineration units which present installation problems do to their size and complexity. The design also does not allow for an incineration unit of this type to be adapted for portable use, such as truck mounting or the like. Moreover, the Matteini patent is typical of the type of incinerator that does not show or even suggest a secondary combustion means for treatment of the incineration by-products to ensure complete incineration of waste products.
Moreover, the durable nature of the man-made materials requires special and creative equipment design to effectively incinerate and dispose of these wastes. It has been recognized that high temperature incineration is an effective method to eliminate the potential hazards associated with the durable materials.
Accordingly, it is the principle object of the present invention to provide a new and improved incineration system having a construction that efficiently directs the flow of hot incineration gases in a direction opposite to the flow of the waste materials within a single rotary incineration chamber to effectively dry the waste material to be incinerated and enable appropriate treatment of incineration by-products to ensure complete combustion thereof.
Another object of the invention is to provide an incineration unit which includes means for automatic ash discharge and separation of larger, non combustible materials allowing for the recovery of such non combustible materials.
Still another object of the invention is to provide an incineration unit which is suitable for economically incinerating both wet and dry waste materials at very high temperatures so as to completely breakdown the materials.
It is still another object of this invention to provide an incineration system which can be constructed from standard building materials without requiring expensive materials or complicated mechanical design solutions while assuring operational longevity.
A further object of the invention is to provide for an improved high temperature incineration system which due to its compact design, can be adapted into a mobile system.
Other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out in more detail hereinafter.